1. The so-called sins of King Zhou of Yin are not lies and slander, but turning good things into bad things

The author said that Cao Cao’s reputation is far-reaching. Compared with King Zhou of Yin, it is simply Unparalleled, the difference is that Cao Cao was the founder of the country and left behind immortal deeds and outstanding poems. His flaws cannot be concealed. Orthodox commentators cannot cover up the world with one hand. King Zhou of Yin was the king who subjugated his country. Since the Zhou Dynasty, when he was mentioned in ancient documents, they were all negative, and there was never a single word of praise for him. His debauchery and tyranny listed in the history books are really shocking. But it is strange that the six crimes that were previously imposed on him were nothing more than an exaggeration of Xia Jie's crimes. Moreover, they were all "promoters" from the Zhou Dynasty, who propagandized and destroyed the "former king" Zhou. He quoted Xia Zengyou, the author of "Ancient Chinese History", as saying that there are people in the world who learn to do good deeds and are the same, but those who do not learn to do bad things are the same. There must be some clues here. The author then analyzes the six crimes listed in "Shang Shu". The author believes that saying that King Zhou of Yin was "alcoholic" is simply because the people of Yin were originally good at drinking, but King Zhou may have had a particularly large drinking capacity and drank particularly good wine. As for "drinking and being confused", this is by no means true. How do you think a confused person can become an invincible conqueror who can "kill a hundred grams and have no descendants"? As for the "wine pond and meat forest" and other strange stories, they all came from this. The "no need for noble relatives and old ministers" actually refers to a group of older people who originally had power, headed by King Zhou's brother Wei Ziqi, who opposed King Zhou after King Zhou came to the throne. They did not hold strong power and were dissatisfied. It was put on the head of King Zhou and used by the Zhou people for propaganda. Besides, "appointing villains" is actually an indiscriminate accusation. At the end of the Yin Dynasty, it was true that Zhou made unconventional employment and promoted slaves to officials and ministers, but this should be a progressive measure. His great martial arts and his immortal contributions to the development of the nation and culture are inseparable from this measure. of. Moreover, Tang and Wu Ding, who were at their peak in martial arts earlier than him, also adopted extraordinary measures in employing people. As for "listening to women's words", it is just the rumors of the opposition and the infrequent weirdness of Zhou people. The author said that capable women in the Yin Dynasty were very active, and many women appeared in the oracles. For example, Wu Ding's concubines were good and could lead thousands of people to fight against the enemy. Even Wu Ding's famous general Jun Dunge (Dun Ge: it's a word, because I don't know what to pronounce and can't find out, general) was controlled by her. . Why can't we listen to such women's words? However, this was beyond the imagination of the backward Zhou nation. The wife of King Zhou may be the same person as Fuhao. But because she was the wife of King Zhou, she was even more hated by the opposition and attacked by the Zhou people. What's even more strange is that the fifth charge says that King Zhou "believes in destiny", while the sixth charge says that he "does not pay attention to sacrifices." In fact, it goes against history for the people of the Yin Dynasty not to believe in heaven, and it is even more fabricated to say that King Zhou of the Yin Dynasty did not worship their ancestors. According to the unearthed inscriptions, the sacrificial rituals of Emperor Yi (father of Zhou) and Emperor Xin (Zhou) were the most complete in the Yin Dynasty.

Therefore, judging from the above-mentioned so-called crimes, they are not lies and slander, but turning what was originally a good thing into a bad thing. When the author mentioned that Cui Dongbi and Gu Jiegang added another crime of "ignorance" to King Zhou, he said, could King Zhou, who had a record of "hundred grams", be a real mediocrity? Zhou people had praised Emperor Yi many times and even called him "King Yin Zhe", and Wei Zi was a very capable person. How can we understand that Emperor Yi did not establish a capable eldest son but a foolish younger son?

2. Wei Ziqi, who opposed King Zhou of Yin, was the main person responsible for Yin Wang, and was also the main person responsible for slandering King Zhou

Subsequently, the author believed that the pursuit of the fall of the Yin Dynasty The reason is an important issue in evaluating King Zhou of Yin, because King Zhou of Yin became a person who "returns all evil in the world" precisely because of "the death of the body and the destruction of the country", and "reverse effects become causes" is the result. The author believes that the collapse of the Yin Dynasty was first caused by a great split within the Yin royal family. The author said that according to Zuo Zhuan's biography of Ai Gong in the ninth year, Lu's Chunqiu and Zheng Xuan, Wei Ziqi was the eldest son of Emperor Yi. The Yin people had a system of "brothers end with younger brothers", but Emperor Yi passed the throne to Zhou instead. Pass it on to Wei Ziqi, but Wei Zi cannot stand up, so naturally he will not be reconciled. After Zhou ascended the throne, two factions were formed. The Weizi faction opposed Zhou, and many things started from then on. Wei Ziqi had a grudge against Zhou because he could not succeed to the throne, and deliberately spread rumors to slander Zhou. This is proved by the fact that the sources of the six major crimes of Zhou cited by Zhou people were almost all from the Yin people. The opposition and the enemy sing in front and harmonize later, just like the harmony of drums and drums. Comparing these materials, there is no doubt that the enemy's spokesperson was hidden in the Yin Dynasty. As for King Zhou of Yin, because he had a group of capable people, his political power was very consolidated, and he often fought in the north and south, he just tolerated these rumors. Until the battle of Dongyi, because the war lasted for a long time and the Yin people suffered heavy casualties, the internal opposition was ready to move. King Zhou returned from victory. After learning about these situations, the struggle between the two factions intensified. The author said that assassinations took place. For example, the opposition "Shang Rong tried to hold Yu Zhen and Feng Yu Ma Tu in an attempt to defeat Zhou", but failed and fled to the Taihang Mountains. Bigan had a conflict with King Zhou and was killed by Zhou. Jizi was imprisoned by Zhou. Wei Zi hid himself, and Wei Zi's confidants Tai Shizhen and Shao Shijun defected to King Wu of Zhou, leaking the inside story of the Yin people. King Wu of Zhou, a great conspirator, took this opportunity to tell all the ministries to send troops to attack Zhou immediately. King Yin Zhou, who had just demobilized and had difficulty recruiting new soldiers, had a limited standing army, was still tired, and was internally unstable, suddenly suffered an unexpected attack from the powerful Zhou coalition forces. It was originally difficult to win, but unexpectedly he encountered another enemy on the battlefield. The captured soldiers turned against each other, and the "wavering elements" were defeated, and finally died in the Battle of Makino, which shocked the past and the present.

Therefore, the author believes that it was Wei Ziqi who spread rumors and slandered Zhou, it was Wei Ziqi who initiated internal strife, it was Wei Ziqi who sent people to surrender to the enemy, it was Wei Ziqi who attracted foreign aggression, and it was Wei Ziqi who was responsible for the death of the Yin Dynasty. burden.

3. The five major achievements and four major advantages of King Zhou of Yin

The author believes that King Zhou of Yin had five major achievements in history for the people at that time and the Chinese nation; and these achievements are consistent. He personally has four major advantages in contact. His achievements are: first, opening up the southeast and developing the nation. The author said that Zhou's pacification of Dongyi played a major role in the preservation and development of the Yin nation. Later, the Yin people withdrew from the Central Plains and migrated southward. This was a failure for the Yin people, but from the perspective of the development of the entire Chinese nation, opening up the southeast was of great significance. This is King Zhou's immortal contribution to the development of the nation. Second, carry forward traditional culture. The author believes that judging from negative materials, at least these three things are certain: Zhou's architecture surpassed previous generations, Zhou invented and promoted craftsmanship, and Zhou promoted and created music. Third, it spread culture to the backward southeastern region. The author said that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many ancient artifacts handed down from the Xu, Chu, Wu, and Yue countries in the south. Most of the inscriptions on the artifacts were four-character sentences, which were roughly similar to the inscriptions on the ancient artifacts handed down from the northern countries. This shows the general situation of southern culture, especially the emergence of the Warring States Period. The literature of Chu Ci has added splendor to the south. Needless to say, this is inseparable from the southward movement of Yin culture. The fourth is to employ people only based on their talents. The author said that the Zhou people once attacked King Zhou by "appointing villains", but Zhou was able to promote a large number of new people to power when the old people were full of the dynasty, which was an innovative measure to deal with decline. These people put forward many progressive suggestions for the civil and martial arts at that time. Moreover, because King Zhou changed from employing people only based on their talents to "those who are not talented are far away", and further to "talented people are happy to use them", it played a good role in the development of the Yin Dynasty in all aspects of politics, economy, and military. The fifth is to pay attention to prisoners. The author said that using captives as soldiers and giving them weapons was a great event at the time. In the war of clan society, only killing each other and taking no prisoners at all. In slave society wars, although captives were objects, they were not valued. The author also said: According to the inscriptions, before Yixin (especially during the Wuding period), a large number of captives were used as sacrifices. By the time of Yixin, the number of people killed as sacrifices was generally only less than ten. Comparing this with using captives as soldiers, there is no doubt that King Zhou valued the captives. As for the advantages of Zhou himself, the author believes that: First, he is "both wise and courageous". This is from the Book of Yin Dynasty: "Emperor Zhou was quick in debate, very quick in hearing and seeing, had extraordinary physical strength, and was able to handle fierce beasts. He knew enough to distance himself from admonitions, and his words were enough to cover up his mistakes. He respected people and ministers with their abilities, and lofty the world with his voice. He thought everyone Judging from descriptions such as "Out of oneself", it is proved. The second is "knowing people well". The author believes that this is a prerequisite for "employing people only based on their talents". The third is to "pay attention to integrity." The author said that in extremely unfavorable circumstances and the situation was over, King Zhou of Yin was able to resolutely sacrifice his life. This spirit of heroic sacrifice is enough to prove it. Fourth, the military and civilians are convinced of him. How can you see it? The author said that the "Hundred Grams" record would not have been possible without the support of the army. Judging from the "bloody flow" situation, it can also be proved that the main force of Zhou was united. For another example, after the Zhou conquered the Yin, a strange phenomenon occurred. Instead of establishing a wei son to succeed the Yin, the Zhou people instead established Wu Geng Lufu (the son of Zhou) to rule the Yin people. What force forced the Zhou people to do this? The reasonable explanation is that the Zhou people knew that the Yin people believed in King Zhou, and only by establishing Wu Geng could the situation be stabilized.

Finally, the author said that under malicious propaganda, a lot of correct facts were of course obscured, but based on the above alone, King Zhou of Yin contributed to the people at that time, the development of the nation and the development of culture Already very clear. Get rid of the stereotype of "success or failure depends on one person". Among the monarchs in the slave-owning society, in terms of his contribution to the people and history, Zhou should be ranked at the top. His status is higher than that of Wu Ding in the past and King Wu of Zhou in the future. Still higher. "The case of King Zhou of Yin, who has been unjustly accused of being a villain for three thousand years, should be overturned.

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